take your answer off the air...

Talker's MagazineThe quirky talk radio trade mag. Check the Talk Radio Research Project- it's not very scientific, but places on the top 15 talkers list (scroll down to Talk Radio Audiences By Size)) are as hotly contested as Emmys (and mean just about as much).

The AdvocateNo, not THAT Advocate... it's the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.

Media MattersDocumentation of right-wing media in video, audio and text.

Orcinushome of David Neiwert, freelance investigative journalist and author who writes extensively about far-right hate groups

Hominid Views"People, politics, science, and whatnot"
Darryl is a statistician who fights imperialism with empiricism, gives good links and wry commentary.

Jesus' General An 11 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender, a 12 on the Heavenly Scale of the 10 Commandments and a 6 on the earthly scale of the Immaculately Groomed.

Irrational Public Radio "informs, challenges, soothes and/or berates, and does so with a pleasing vocal cadence and unmatched enunciation. When you listen to IPR, integrity washes over you like lava, with the pleasing familiarity of a medium-roast coffee and a sensible muffin."

The Moderate VoiceThe voice of reason in the age of Obama, and the politics of the far-middle.

News Hounds Dogged dogging of Fox News by a team who seems to watch every minute of the cable channel so you don't have to.

HistoryLinkFun to read and free encyclopedia of Washington State history. Founded by the late Walt Crowley, it's an indispensable tool and entertainment source for history wonks and surfers alike.

right-wing blogs we like

The Reagan WingHearin lies the real heart of Washington State Republicans. Doug Parris runs this red-meat social conservative group site which bars no holds when it comes to saying who they are and who they're not; what they believe and what they don't; who their friends are and where the rest of the Republicans can go. Well-written, and flaming.

April 23, 2013

As reported in Shareholders Foundation today, a professional loss-prevention, settlement recovery, portfolio monitoring service, an investor has filed suit regarding the sale of Seattle based Fisher Broadcasting (KOMO Radio/TV,KVI,KPLZ) to Sinclair, claiming the offer is undervalued.

If you purchased shares of Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSCI)
prior to April 11, 2013, and currently hold any of those NASDAQ:FSCI
shares, you have certain options and you should contact the Shareholders
Foundation, Inc.

The plaintiff alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary
duties by agreeing to sell the company too cheaply via an unfair process
to Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. On April 12, 2013, NASDAQ:FSCI shares traded as high as $41.20 per share.

Just days before the April 13th announcement of the acquisition, Sinclair Broadcast Group refinaced its credit loan terms. Sinclair raised $900.0 million of new
term loans, which consisted of $500.0 million in new term A loans
maturing April 2018 and priced at LIBOR plus 2.25% and $400.0 million in
new term B loans maturing April 2020 and priced at LIBOR plus 2.25%
with a LIBOR floor of 0.75%. In addition, Sinclair obtained a new $100.0
million revolving line of credit maturing April 2018 and priced at
LIBOR plus 2.25%.

Tied with a community college station which carries one of the former programs on AM 1090, but was doing better than KVI,KIXI and KEXP, 2 months ago.

KVI and KIXI and oh so postdot.com, KEXP still suck ass in the latest Arbitron PPM ratings. Granted, PPM' (Portable People Meter's) are not as accurate as the previous method of daily diaries, but we have to think having a .9 was a better holding pattern. We also think CBS suits thought AM 1090 would have a chance at picking up any new broadcast rights should the NBA grant Stadiaville a new basketball franchise.

Yeah right,

2 other established sports talkers are already gunning for the rights should it ever happen. KFNQ has a lousy nighttime pattern in parts of the Pugetopolis as it is.

It's still early in the game as a new format is concerned but one would also wonder why they didn't get a bump as a new format. Carey Curelop shouldn't be "Larry Gifford'd" at this point thanks to KZOK and other CBS properties doing much better, but radio is a strange business

recent CBS Seattle staff meeting

We also think the Progressive Talk format is done on the Raydio at this point, save for a few smaller outlets that need to fill time slots until the spare parts of conservative radio will work for cheap(er). CBS could of done better than to waste a 50k watt signal on what is already critical mass in Seattle with the half dozen other sports talk formats in the Greater Seattle/Tacoma/Everett market.

We have to wonder how a .1 can keep ad dollars fluid before CBS starts amputating stations, even those that started out with heritage beginnings in Seattle like AM 1090.

With the exception of Noory, these are not your average radio hosts driven towards personality type programming, but rather how can they create a hot topic based on largely the unknown. Some recent topics on Coast to Coast AM: UFO researcher known as the "Crypto Hunter," John Rhodes, discussed
reptilian humanoids along with such topics as enhanced perception, the
Mayan calendar, and Earth changes;

Author and researcher L.A. Marzulli will discuss his on-going work on
the Watchers and the cosmic battle raging around us, including evidence
for the alien hybrid breeding program which combines human and alien
DNA, resulting in hyper-dimensional beings such as the Black-Eyed
Children.

To be fair to Coast to Coast, some recent topics have included the upcoming financial "fiscal cliff" and Noory does read the news headlines at the beginning of each show with quick analysis by experts in the field, giving their synopsis of each item.

Alex getting ready to yell, Mayday!

Austin, TX based Alex Jones show, which has been broadcasting since 1996 and has few radio outlets but a legion of Internet followers world-wide, including celebrity listeners and guests, such as Charlie Sheen, Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, Jesse Ventura and others with similar views. Jones shtick seems to be all government conspiracies with little room for aliens and the paranormal. Jones considers himself a Libertarian and covers what appears to be attacks on himself or others;

"Piers Morgan Says He's Coming to Conquer America" after Ventura appeared on Morgan's show recently. "

"A few days ago we posted an article
pointing out that director Christopher Nolan’s latest Batman release
“The Dark Knight Rises,” which was recently released on DVD, bizarrely
featured a mention of the words “Sandy Hook” (at approximately 1:58).

Since that “minor coincidence,” we’ve scoured the Batman movies and
pored over various Gotham City maps to find anything that could support
the theory that the movies may have had hints of foreknowledge of the
tragic massacre that occurred last week, because where there’s smoke,
there’s usually fire."

Sometimes topics merge such as "9/11 truthers" and theories on JFK assassination and so-called Police State/New World Order articles appearing on both Coast to Coast and Jones' shows.

Lewis looking Baldwin-like

Clyde Lewis' Ground Zero Radio
which was syndicated this summer, deals with all of the above topics
with Lewis seeing himself as provocateur in all things unexplainable. Some of Lewis' topics are even more bizarre as outlined in this interview recently in Portland's About Face Magazine:

Do you believe earth is being visited by beings from other planets?

Yes.

What is behind that answer? Why do you believe that?

Well, there is a lot of evidence. People say there isn’t any
incredible evidence—you don’t need incredible evidence. It’s about
probability. There are biological entities, or biological creatures,
that live off of things like arsenic; that live in very hostile
temperatures. It is likely that there are advanced life forms in the
universe and that they are traveling here.

Why are they coming here?

I don’t know, I mean, you could give the basic answers. Say they are
here for air, they are here for chlorophyll—chlorophyll, because you
can’t find it on other planets. But I’ll tell why they are here. They
are here to eat us. We are digestives for what they need. We are food.
We are someone else’s property.

You believe we are being farmed?

Yes, I do—for food. We are being farmed for food. We are being farmed
for our organs. There are a lot of things in the human body that are
valuable to them.

Ground Zero has a respectable list of affiliates in the same time slot as C/C which makes us wonder is there room for two at the same time of the night? All three shows have one thing in common. The prepper movement of hawking gold /silver, emergency food supplies (years and years worth) shortwave radios, and books on how to be smarter than your neighbor if the shit hits the fan.

Will the fascination with end times/ conspiracy radio hit the wall soon enough with more prophecies being debunked or will new events create topics to keep listeners awake?

As ad revenues decline in other formats, and the increasingly supersaturation of Talk/Sports shows, stations look to stay alive with little imagination to the personality radio of the past.

October 02, 2012

We here at Blatherwatch take delight in the schadenfreude that is talk radio. Especially those in the top tier whose actions create the kind of stories in the industry we live for. We try not to dwell on one person's tumble for more than a story or two, but we have to admit that the mighty ego of Savage is too much to ignore and his replacement may signal the end of overpaid hosts and their lack of respect for radio, especially their advertisers.

TRN(Talk Radio Network) announced that the 3-6pm PT slot (570 KVI) formally held by talker and now adventurer Micheal Weiner' "Savage Nation" has now been filled by Jerry Doyle.

TRN states thru Talkers Magazine : “For too long, we’ve had to choose between ratings and saleability, but
no longer…Jet pilot, Wall Street investment banker for 10 years,
Hollywood star for 12 years, former congressional nominee and now radio
giant who has earned his right to this spot for close to nine years,
Jerry Doyle is the future of talk radio. He will bring massive
audiences through word of mouth because he is brilliant and funny,
showing both emotional and intellectual range that is beyond rare.”

As
it announces Doyle’s move into the West Coast afternoon drive slot, TRN
promises, “He understands the advertising business like few others"...

Doyle will use Bill Wattenburg, cabin hunter and designer of all things Nuke-Cleear to fill in on Doyle's time slot until a replacement is hired.

TRN is making use of the loss of Savage Nation by saying: "Jerry will work with his stations reading their ads and promos, because
he understands radio isn’t about host ego, it’s about high levels of
performance, and it’s about business.” Savage left the network and 375+ stations in the lurch last week after he won arbitration to end his contract.

Meanwhile, Savage is camping out in the wilderness of streaming online feeds courtesy of UStream in which the two differ on the number of listeners and Savage's attorney threatens industry site Radio Ink over actual numbers reported after Sunday's Internet stream.

When numbers matter, UStream claimed 45,560 had streamed online to listen to the 1 hour show. Savage and his attorney, David Horowitz say 48k. Radio Ink was then threatened with legal action over the 3,000 difference in listeners as reported.

We don't know much about Jerry Doyle but we have to guess TRN and stations in general will be glad to have a less expensive, overblown ego in talk radio who will actually promote advertisers product. Sez Savage, "I've been on the radio 18 years and that
may or may not continue. I'm out there in the wilderness right now,
where I want to be."

September 28, 2012

In the 24 hours since talker Micheal Savage won a legal battle to end his Savage Nation contract with Talk Radio Network, so it is he is really off the air--no live-no replays, Nada.

Sure enough, the KVI site is absent Savage (Weiner's) mug. This coming
just weeks after KVI launched a comeback for the old KVI and
conservative radio.

In ending the contract, all 375+ stations must also cease and desist from even playing best or Worst of Savage Nation. One of those to see the fallout is 570 KVI, which played his show (delayed) from 9-11p weeknights. An email to PD Paul Duckworth only brought this:

"We're working through that maze right
now. Based on the court ruling, we won't have access to Savage replays.
I should have more definitive word late Monday. Stay tuned."

Other stations are hopeful? We looked around and found KFLD in Pasco that has a link to the announcement on their page and a phone call hinted that he might be back but we wanted to know , who is filling in--tonight? The person possibly the janitor told us after walking down the hall and coming back with "Uh, probably Micheal Gallagher"

We also asked with the hope of finding out how practical it is for a national host to negotiate his own contract station by station or if he's even welcome back after the shit storm he caused with short notice. "Uh, we hope he comes back"

Stay tuned...

Update: we here at BW Newswatch managed to finagle a last minute phone call to KVI Gal who told us Fisher still doesnt know who will be in that time slot tonght but that Talk Radio Network assures them it will be "someone".

TalkRadioNetworks CEO Mark Masters issued a statement in response,
“We are all looking forward to announcing a bright future; radio’s
October Surprise will begin on Monday, October 1st.” Savage’s attorney,
Daniel Horowitz, tells the AP that Savage has
been fighting the network for two years to get out of a contract that
was 10 years old and prevented him from switching employers. Savage won
the favorable ruling in arbitration. Horowitz says the pact lacked
protections afforded to artists and entertainers under California law
and tied Savage to Talk Radio Network indefinitely. As for the cost to
Savage to which he refers to in his missive on the website, Horowitz
says Savage spent more than $900,000 fighting his case but was awarded
more than $1 million in arbitration. Savage will also have access to
his audio archives. Still unclear is the exact amount of time Savage
must remain off the air.

September 05, 2012

As tipped off last week( but we wanted to wait until they flipped again) The Fisher twins, KOMO and KVI have updated their format in favor of more news at the former and another taco stand for the 570 call, by using second tier conservative syndication and the spare parts of whats left over.

Carlson is back in at KVI with "Commute with Carlson", possibly the only live host. Ken Schram is out but still has daily commentaries on KOMO am and will remain on KOMO TV. Micheal Savage, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Lars Larson and Don Imus, albeit mainly taped shows, are part of the lineup along with the junkier Red Eye Radio for the warehouse elite.

KOMO stays with news but adds new anchors, Bill Rice from 4a-5 and then 9-noon, Brian Calvert from Noon to 3p, with the current KOMO Morning News team of Manda Factor & Gregg Hersholt and KOMO Afternoon News with Jane Shannon & Tom Hutyler staying in place. At Midnight, Dial Global's Overnight America lulls us until America in the Morning from 3a-4 starts the cycle over again.

September 02, 2012

Mark and Irene Harris (left, frolicking in the Florida surf), delegates to the GOP convention, wrote this on their blog Rock Star GOP : "Prior to National Republican Convention we visited Disney for three
days. During our time at Epcot we visited the different countries. It
was neat seeing each country and the employees were from that individual
country. Then we visited America . . . one would think you would find
American employees. We were offended to find a person from Mexico
working in America. Mark spoke up and told them he was highly offended
after visiting the other countries and seeing employees from that
country and then come to America and find a Mexican. He was very civil
but his point was well made." They don't allow comments on their blog, but someone must have gotten to them, because a few days later, they posted: " For those of you who have not taken the Epcot experience, it is a trip
well worth taken. Epcot gives you a real world experience all in one
day. The shops, the buildings, the shows, and the food is all inherent
to where you are. Each staff member is identified by a name tag,
referencing their country of origin. As noted, only in the country of
the United States, within Epcot, was a staff member representing and
working, who did not have a name tag representing that country. I would
say being offended may been too harsh, disappointed or dismayed may
have been a better choice of words."

Ya think?

The saddest thing about Clint Eastwood's embarrassing performance at the
Republican National Convention is that it seemed so out of character
for a man who always has been more nuanced and complicated than his
macho film persona would suggest. In fact, many of his films have been
more nuanced and complicated than many realize, often demonstrating a
sensitivity to cultural diversity that is anathema to most Republicans,
once making the case for end of life choice, and once even revealing the
pettiness and empty false mythology behind the violent Westerns that
first made him famous.

Eastwood has come out in favor of gay marriage, but he supports a
presidential candidate who would ban it, and spoke to the convention of a
party that is openly bigoted against the LGBT community. Eastwood last
winter cut an ad that expressed appreciation for the auto bailout that
Mitt Romney opposed and President Obama created. Eastwood is an
environmentalist in a party that sees nature as nothing but a commodity
to be exploited and exhausted. Eastwood in his speech decried the
ongoing war in Afghanistan, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the
Republicans oppose even the limited withdrawal President Obama signed.
Eastwood mocked liberal Hollywood, but has a history of working well
with noted liberal activists such as Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Sean
Penn, Tim Robbins and Hillary Swank. He has been known as a man of
dignity, unpretentious, widely respected, well-liked.

Clint Eastwood is 82 years old, but there is no evidence that his
mental faculties have been suffering. He still directs substantial
films, and he still demonstrates wisdom in his choices of films to
direct. If there is any lesson to be drawn from his public
self-immolation it is that even a nuanced and complicated and normally
respectable man cannot stand in the GOP spotlight without being soiled
by it. This was a self-inflicted disaster, and Eastwood has no one to
blame but himself. It was, nevertheless, sad.

From Bloomberg Businessweek: On the final morning of the Republican National
Convention, Karl Rove took the stage at the Tampa Club to provide an
exclusive breakfast briefing to about 70 of the Republican party’s
highest-earning and most powerful donors. During the more than hour-long
session, Rove explained to an audience dotted with hedge fund
billionaires and investors—including John Paulson and Wilbur Ross—how
his super PAC, American Crossroads, will persuade undecided voters in
crucial swing states to vote against Barack Obama. He also detailed
plans for Senate and House races, and joked, “We should sink Todd Akin.
If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!” Then Rove pleaded with his audience for more money—much more.

And finally, we admit to missing this story (We have an excuse. You don't want to know) and we thank those of you who kindly wrote in, asking us to post the information we have gathered:

"After 20 months, Fisher Communications’ KVI-AM Seattle is returning
to its conservative roots. On 9/4 it will again become Talk Radio KVI,
replacing “Smart Talk.” The current format has an emphasis on
entertainment news, lifestyle and health reports, and local news.
Programs include “Sunrise Seattle”, a Good Morning America-type program
hosted by Mark Christopher and Elisa Jaffe, Clark Howard, Phil Hendrie,
“The Buzz” with Scott Carty, the “Daily Wrap from the Wall Street
Journal” with Michael Castner, and Don Imus, as well as paid programming
on weekends.

The once and future format will begin at 5 a.m. on Tuesday with the
familiar voice of John Carlson, 2000 Republican gubernatorial candidate
who has lately been heard on crosstown KOMO radio. Carlson is a talk
radio veteran and onetime communications director for the Washington
State Republican Party.

Carlson will air until 9AM. Then it will be Laura Ingraham. Lars
Larsen will occupy the 6-9 p.m. slot, starting 9/24, followed by Michael
Savage from 9 p.m. until midnight."

February 22, 2012

Seattle – Fisher’s news/talk KOMO-AM/FM is #1, 4.7-4.2-6.0. And that Bonneville’s rival news/talk KIRO-FM is on its tail, 5.7-4.6-5.9. So what happened to Holiday-book champion all-Christmas “Warm”? That’s Sandusky’s soft AC KRWM, and it settled from a 12.0 to a 5.5, ranking third. Then you encounter another high-flying public radio news/talker – the University of Washington’s KUOW, in fourth place (4.5-4.2-5.2). The rest of the talk field didn’t do so well. Bonneville’s talk “Truth” KTTH, the home of Rush Limbaugh, has moved 1.6-1.3-1.4. Fisher’s new “Smart Talk” KVI sank from a 0.3 to a 0.1.

Let me repeat that.

KVI sank from a 0.3 to a 0.1. Apparently Sunrise Seattle isn't impressing too many people. From the website:

Elisa Jaffe and Mark Christopher and staff members Jennifer Austin, Brittney Perrault, and Marina Rockinger set a silly world record for "most people saying 'Sunrise Seattle' for 20 seconds while holding their tongues."

Riveting radio, no doubt.

(Hat tip to Tom Taylor for the ratings statistics.)

(left-Señor Wences) In other news, Brian Suits is out at KOGO in San Diego over a scheduling dispute. From his Facebook page: "So, just to be clear, KOGO and I agreed that I could do the Noon-2 (eventually 3) PM show from Seattle. When a change to 3-6pm was floated, we couldn't agree on what it would take to move to San Diego. The good news is, Bean from KROQ (and fellow Seattleite) is kicking my ass to do a daily podcast and occasional live shows in LA and The OC. So stay tuned."

KVI am 570 KHz Visit the burnt-out husk of one of the seminal right-wing talkers in all the land. Here's where once trilled the reactionary tones of Rush Limbaugh, John Carlson, Kirby Wilbur, Mike Siegel, Peter Weissbach, Floyd Brown, Dinky Donkey, and Bryan Suits.
Now it's Top 40 hits from the '60's & '70's aimed at that diminishing crowd who still remembers them and can still hear.

KTTH am 770 KHzRight wing home of local, and a whole bunch of syndicated righties such as Glennn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Lars Larsony, and for an hour a day: live & local David Boze.